The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission recently contacted residential aged care services by email to undertake a second online Self-assessment Survey. The survey was intended to support and monitor providers in preparation for a COVID-19 outbreak.

The online Self-assessment Survey was designed to support residential aged care services to undertake a critical check of their Outbreak Management Plan (OMP) and ensure it is ready to be enacted if an outbreak occurs.

Companion Resource for Self-assessment 

A Companion Resource, which can be downloaded here, was developed to provide guidance in responding to the online Self-assessment Survey. The Companion Resource was provided to support management actions at the service in relation to outbreak planning. The guidance is not definitive, but focuses on actions to support preparedness.

We will continue to adjust our regulatory response to the COVID-19 outbreak in line with the latest advice and guidance from the Department of Health and other health authorities. 

Communicating key personnel and roles during an outbreak

In the event of an outbreak of COVID-19 at a residential service, the service’s Outbreak Management Team and key personnel at the service will be in close co-operation with public health authorities and other parties to support the emergency response to COVID-19. A key personnel template has been developed to assist in identifying key personnel of the service and their contact details to support this response. 

The template is intended for a service to use in the event of an outbreak to communicate with multiple other parties which may arrive at the service during an outbreak. It is intended that services can modify and tailor the template to suit their needs, and can be printed out to post on site as a daily update. 

The template will indicate which staff are currently on site. Shaded boxes indicate that someone identified in this role should always be on site. 

The second page of the template is for emergency services or other emergency personnel to complete relevant contact details.

We thank all Approved Providers for their ongoing efforts to protect older Australians at this critical time.